The Reverend's Daughter (Book 2 after The Duke's Daughter)

Twenty Three Part Three

Violet charmed the ladies into showing him the fancy cake creation that had been made especially for him and Elizabeth. He begged to be able to taste the confection, and they were under way.

Together he and Betsy cut the wedding cake. After exchanging small bites of the spiced apple cake with buttercream topping, Violet and Betsy then gave the cake table back over to the local ladies. They were more than happy to distribute pieces of the sweet dessert to the revelers.

It just happened that a few young girls had come along to the wedding with their parents, they had been struck by the romantic feel in the air, and all had declared themselves hopelessly in love with Brutus.

Being that the girls were in their mid teens, Brutus tried to maintain his patience, as the girls took turns asking him to dance, and then proceeded to practice their womanly wiles upon him.

Violet had caught on to the tittering, glance slanting group of young ladies, and he encouraged them all he dared.

Walking around behind the girls, his wife on his arm, Violet stopped under the same tree, yet on the other side of the trunk from the giggling girls.

They were all tittering, watching the eldest of their group as she tried to charm the handsome first mate.

"I am sure Brutus enjoys having so many pretty girls to choose from, was it not just the other day, my dear, he said he was ready to take a wife?" Violet spoke conspiratorially to Betsy, yet loud enough for the girls to hear. He was rewarded with much giggling and sighing, as Betsy opened her mouth to admonish him for encouraging them.

He swooped down upon her and kissed her open mouth.

Betsy struggled to be unhanded after such a dirty trick, but she found that she could not breath as well as she needed to. She accepted his kiss, so she could take in air through her nose, as she glared at Vi at the same time.

His eyes were full of merriment and she knew her glare was helping none at all.

Violet quirked a brow, and Betsy began laughing at him ending the kiss, as he drew her away from the girls to dance one more time, before he stole her away.

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All in attendance waved the carriage off. Lady Eleanor and Katherine wore full smiles upon their faces.

They looked at each other and nodded. A task well done, they both agreed. They walked together to thank the reverend and collect the flowers from the church. They would then return to the ship to spend the evening with Marcus and the crew.

The ladies were quite pleased with the ceremony, it had not been your usual serious, stoic wedding, not with all the kissing and gazing lovingly into one another's eyes Violet and Betsy had done.

Both Ellie and Katy found themselves reliving the sweet wedding, then sighing wistfully on occasion throughout the rest of the day. A love match always made for the best weddings.

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Paulie took his bouquet and lay it on his bunk. He sat down and rested his forearms on his knees. He thought of the Lady Eleanor and how sweet she had smelled when he sat next to her.

All of the love and romance Paulie had seen in the last few hours, had made him a bit sad.

He was happy for Violet and Elizabeth, yet, he was sad for himself. He missed having a woman to love.

Helping with the children had aided his loneliness, but there was something about a woman's love that Paulie knew was special.

The wedding today had brought back memories of his own wife. He had one somewhere, he thought. Unless she had died or she may have remarried while still being married to him, he could not be sure if she was still out there somewhere.